Chapter 8:
Simon wakes the following morning still spooned with Betty. He starts to groom her ears with his teeth. How he knows to do this, he doesn't know; he thinks it must be an instinctual thing. Betty sighs at the treatment and starts to purr when a bark and whine come from the other room. "Use your words, son." ("Sorry, dad, mom could never hear me before. Can I get some food, please"?) "Our son would like a meal, love." "You go get him; I'm too contented to move right now." "Simon gets up, cleans up his son, and brings him back to Betty. Marc gloms on as Simon returns to grooming Betty.
("So, dad, what are we doing today"?) asks Marc of his father. ("I don't know what you're doing, but I know I have exercises to do.") ("Wow, dad. Tone it down a bit, or were you shouting to get my attention"?) Simon mentally turns it down. ("Sorry, son, but this communicating with my mind is all new to me.") ("Much better, dad.") ("So, what are the two males in my life talking about"?) ("mom"?) (Betty"?) ("Hah, one for me. From the sound of your voices, I got you both.") ("How is this possible, love"?) ("Well, last night Thomas explained to me some mathematical notations in my computer language, hoping that it would lead to mind-to-mind communication for me. And I can say the notes are a resounding success. As you talked, I felt a tickle in my mind until I zeroed in on the area. Then I heard you both. Wait until Mavis and Brian find out. I'm sure they will be just as impressed as I am.")
"Could you not communicate with your mind before, love"? I could, but only through the transceiver in my head. You have the same transceiver husband." "I do? Will I be taught how to use it"? "You will, but I'll leave that up to Thomas and Jessica. Training may be different in an organic brain. But it's time to get up and start the lessons for the day." Simon groans as he gets up for the second time, his body is sore, but it doesn't feel that bad. They strip Marc of his diaper and bring him into the shower. He complains about wet fur and the temperature of the water. This is his first shower, and Simon and Betty laugh at his complaints. Simon holds him up under the shower head to rinse the soap out of his fur, and Marc whines and spits out his discomfort. "Such mistreatment, by his parents no less," he thinks. Betty and Simon laugh when he tells them. But he purrs for the towel rub down and dry.
As a family, they all head for the cafeteria. Marc is popular this morning. Breakfast done, they all head for the gym. Betty places Marc on the floor in the corner, wrapped in some towels. She then joins her mate, Thomas, and Jessica in the routine. Tina finishes her training and, seeing Marc sleeping on the floor, picks him up and cuddles him. Betty smiles at Tina. They all get into sparing practice. Simon has to learn how to move and flow. But he is a fast learner. "Thomas, the Menushions are here." Thomas reaches up behind his left ear. ("Roger command we will be right up.") Thomas, Jessica, Betty, and Simon all get dressed. Betty takes Marc back from Tina, and they all head for the control room.
In the control room are most of the personnel from the base. "Caleb, can you lower the shields, please"? "But sir, we will be defenseless." "It's all right. We will pay them what they are due." He lowers the shield, and several beaming lights happen around the room. Out of the lights, step the Menushions. The Menushions are one hundred and twenty centimeters in height. They are the little green men from several late-night "B" movies. Simon had also studied their remain many years ago.
Betty moves to stand beside Thomas and her mate. Three of them move over to stand in front of Thomas when a shrill noise comes from the hip of one of the little green men. He pulls an instrument off of his belt and points it at Betty. He then grabs his hand weapon and points it at Betty. The other two do the same. Thomas erects a shield in front of Betty as the weapons discharge. Jessica drained all their weapons of power and converted the energy into something Thomas could use. Their weapons fizzle out, and they look down at the weapons in their hands in disbelief. "Personal shields, that's something new." Says one as they all holster their weapons. Caleb seeing the attack, raised the base shields again.
"Why would you want to hurt one of our friends"? "Why have you aligned yourselves with the Robotrons"? "We have not aligned ourselves with these Robotrons; you speak off." "How can you lie to us? There is one of their scouts standing right next to you." "Betty is not a scout for anyone; Jessica and I created her." "How could you have created her? Your civilization is not far enough advanced for you to be able to create an A.I." "Betty is an old design based on human knowledge from centuries past." Just then, Brian and Mavis join Thomas and Jessica. The machine on the Menushions hip goes off again. He raises it and points it at Mavis, then Brian. "These two are cruder than that one." He points to Brian, Mavis, then Betty. Mavis pipes up, "Wow, do I feel special." She says sarcastically. "Brian and Mavis were our first attempt at creating artificial life." "Yes, we can see the design improvements. But that's not why we are here today. You have used our tech, and we are here for an accounting."
"Yes, sir, we are aware of why you are here. Can we not say we're sorry and move on"? "No, Thomas, you can't. What we want to know is how you survived time travel. We have known for centuries that our stellar drive could be used for time travel, but no one has survived the journey except for you three. How did you do it"? "We're not sure how we survived; we believe we had divine help." "Right, that God thing. We have trouble believing in a supreme being who created us all. We have never been able to quantify this belief." "You don't have to quantify it, sir; just believe." "We're not going to do that; it's a total waste of our time."
"As I said, you three were the only ones to survive time travel, and we want you to do it again. We want you to go back in time and warn us against our folly of interfering with humans." "Sir, you were warned to leave humans alone by other means; what makes you think you will heed us"? "You will be more tangible to us." "You are asking us to change history, and we won't do that. All of this doesn't come into being if we do. So no, we will not change history." "Then you leave us no choice; prepare yourselves for destruction." The murmuring around the room gets louder, and the base personnel move towards the Menushions. A few cans and small instruments sail by the Menushions. The fear in the eyes of the Menushions can be seen as they duck and draw their weapons. It's then they remember their weapons are dead. They then go back to back in a circle. Thomas puts a shield up around them to protect them.
"Hold up, everyone, we haven't made them our counter offer yet." They drop their fear as arrogance comes to the forefront. "What can you offer us that we can't just take"? "I have nothing just yet for you; I want to know who these Robotrons are that you are speaking of." The leader of this group sighs and deflates a bit.
"The Robotrons are a race of robots bent on destroying us as a hive mind. They came out of nowhere about one thousand years ago and started to detach bodies from the hive mind. At the present separation rate, as a hive mind, we will be destroyed in about five hundred years." "Did they ever try to parley with you"? They did but then separated the bodies on that ship from the hive mind. We later found the vessel drifting in space devoid of all bodies; it was a ghost ship. The recording devices all ended simultaneously, and we found nothing. One minute it showed bodies; the next, they were all gone. Nothing mechanical was damaged on the ship. It's like they all stepped off to another ship."
"All right, here's our counter-offer. We have one hundred and sixty-five bodies in cryonic suspension, suspended at their time of death. We will give you those and the X-32. We have a limited crew of humans to operate it. They will be part of the deal." "What are we going to do with a system ship? It's not wormhole drive capable." "I'm sure you have a way to get damaged ships back to a repair bay; you will have to do that with the X-32. It has better shields, armor, and offensive weapons than your ships." "And what are we to do with this ship"? You can use it in your fight with the Robotrons. As they won't be part of your hive mind, they should not succumb to whatever they use against you." "This is a very tempting offer. What do you get out of it"? "What we get out of it is not your concern, but I will say that the last humans on this world will be on that ship." "So, you are dumping your trash on us"? "They are not trash; they just don't fit into today's society." "Say we accept; what do you hope to achieve"? "All we want from you is peace. We want to be left alone as a race of animals to chart our own course to the stars."
After thinking for a few, "We agree to your terms. They are fair." "Thank you, sir. All cryo tubes and your drive system have been tagged with a fifty-kilohertz signal. If you lock onto that, you will have everything. We will get the crew and ship ready for tomorrow." "All right, we will be back tomorrow." "Caleb, can you drop the shield, please"? "Yes, sir." Caleb lowers the shield. Several beaming lights happen around the room as more Menushions appear. Beaming lights appear around Thomas and Jessica as The Menushions try to abduct Them. But the shields they throw up stop that from happening, and the lights go out. Caleb puts the base shields back up.
"We knew you would try that; we are not part of the deal." "Yes, we see that, but we want to change what we did in the past." "The past can't be changed. You can only change your future." "So, what do you suggest for our future"? "For starters, you could be a little less arrogant with lesser beings." "What do we care about lesser beings? We can take anything we want at any time." "Our shields say otherwise."
"Well, yes, but we will find a way around them eventually." "I don't think so, sir; I have already come up with some improvements on shielding; I just have to implement them." Says William walking over to stand beside Thomas. "So, are you the inventor of the shields"? "No, I think of ways to improve existing products and equipment. I have made the graviton coils about sixty percent more efficient than earlier models."
"Yes, well, that is well and good, but we aren't interested in improving things." "And that is where you fail in life. You need to think more of others." "That's not happening. We will be back tomorrow for the rest of what is ours." Thomas looks to Caleb and nods. Caleb lowers the shields, and beaming lights happen all over the base as the Menushions disappear along with the stuff they were promised. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief when they disappear. Caleb throws the shields back up.
As it's only lunchtime, everyone heads for the cafeteria. Betty is mobbed by base personnel who what to see Marc. Betty passes Marc over to Tina and sits down with her lunch. Little Marc loves all the attention and purrs for them all. "Betty, can you put your mate through level A-1? We need to get started on awakening the cryo sleepers." "Will do, Thomas." She says, finishing the bit of food she has in her mouth. "Before you go, Thomas, I have to ask, where did all the extra personnel come from? I know only one hundred and four persons were on the X-32." "We found the rest on the surface of the moon. They had come to the moon on rockets with graviton coils. We saved the ones who still had working cryo tubes. They had put out solar panels, but the batteries they used failed them. We saved everyone we could. I can see a conflict between the Indian commander and the Commodore." Thomas and Jessica take their leave from everyone.
After lunch, Betty leads Simon back to the gym and puts him through his paces. Simon watches his son and can swear he's watching them. But his eyes are still not open. Marc soon flakes out on the towels. He curls into a ball with his nose in his tail. Betty is just as hard a taskmaster as Thomas, but the fringe benefit is he gets a kiss now and then for doing it right. Betty brings it all to a halt as Simon collapse panting his heart out. Betty hands him a bottle of electrolytes, and Simon sucks it down gratefully.
Supper is a jovial affair, as William and Rick excitedly explain to everyone what they found. No one except Betty and Mavis understands them as their animated gestures don't match their words. Everyone laughs as one of William's wild gestures hits a tray and sends the food flying all over a tiger sitting next to him. The tiger turns and scowls at him. William visible gulps as the tiger scoops some spaghetti off of his face. Then he looks at his paw with the spaghetti on, turns, and smears the whole mess on William's face. This was the start of the food wars in the cafeteria tonight. No one won, but all who participated had a fun time. The robotic cleaners had their work cut out for them afterward.
Simon wakes the following day to a small butt in his face. He gently moves his son's butt away from his nose, as the smells could start anytime. He then licks Betty's neck to the base of her left ear and starts to nibble. Betty sighs and purrs for the attention. Marc starts to chuckle, and Simon moves fast. He grabs his son and heads for the change table. Marc chuckles the whole time. Simon gets him cleaned up and returns to Betty with their freshly laundered son. Marc eats his fill as Simon continues to groom Betty.
Commodore Tilman slowly comes to on an infirmary gurney. When he feels steady enough, he sits up and focuses on Thomas and Jessica. "Figures it's these two," he thinks to himself. "Good morning, Commodore. We have some good news for you. We've found a place where you can belong." "Let me guess; I get to work in the bowels of the earth mining precious minerals." "No, machines do that kind of work. You will get to command the X-32 in a conflict situation." "I thought you said there is no conflict on the earth." "There isn't; you will go with the Menushions and fight for them against the Robotrons." "Who are these Menushions? Wait, are we talking about those little green men"? "We are indeed. They have a conflict with a race of robots." The rest of the crew wake and sit up as Thomas and the commodore talk.
Having heard the talk so far, one of the techs asked questions. "So, what weapons do we have to fight with"? "The X-32 has a new type of armor, rail guns, PPCs cannons, and a disruptor. The disruptor is only suitable for close range, like space rocks about to hit the ship. The PPCs are a short to medium-range weapon. The rail guns are long-range weapons. The rail part boosts a metal warhead to about half the speed of light. The warhead will disrupt itself at a predetermined distance. You don't want metal slugs to go on forever; you might run into them later. The PPCs are a ball of plasma with pure particles at their core. It's very devastating at close range, but not so much the further away it gets. It will lose all cohesion at about five kilometers."
"So, all we have to protect ourselves with is rifles and shotguns. What about lasers? We had several big ones back in the day." "Yes, you did, but what was the recharge rate, about one minute and thirty seconds? You would be sitting ducks waiting for them to recharge. The recharge rate on the rail guns is four seconds, and the PPCs are about eight seconds. You have six of each: four each facing forward and two each facing back. The more you fire the PPCs, the more pure particles you have at your disposal. You have five thousand rounds for the rail guns, and the replicators can make more if supplied with suitable materials." The tech shakes his head at the logic of it all. "Now, if everyone is ready, we need to get you on board the X-32."
They huddle in a group as we head out down the hall. The Commodore nods his head at two of the ship's personnel. They make a break for it at the next corridor and run smack dab into the force field Jessica, and I had put up. "We knew you would try that commodore; we were prepared for it." The two personnel stand up and rub their faces, then put their hands out and feel the shield. We all continue walking for the hanger.
At the hanger, we get a surprise. Six beaming lights happen, and six human females appear out of the lights. Jessica smiles as she goes to get some jumpsuits for the females. The men all stare at the naked females in front of them. Jessica returns and paws out the suits. The females all get dressed. Terry and his wife Thelma show up as the ship's crew move to get on.
"Thomas, is there a pilot in the crew"? "No, they have no pilot." "Then I would like to volunteer. I know this will be an adventure, and I crave adventure." "You realize that this is a one-way trip? There will be no coming back." "I realize that, but what else will I do? Shuttle personnel and equipment from the earth to the moon for the next twenty years? Besides, this craft is hard to fly even with the neural interface. And I'm sure I can train another pilot." "What about you, Thelma? Do you agree with this"? "Thomas, I love this big lug. As much as I want to see Zootopia, I go where he goes." "Commodore"? "I accept their offer; welcome aboard." Manuel and his wife run around the corner and pause to catch their breath.
"Thomas, we would like to go with them. They are going to need engineers to keep this ship together. We know it's a one-way trip. But my wife and I know this ship like the back of our paws." "You realize there's no coming back, right"? "Yes, we realize it. But feel we are the best ones to keep this ship running. I'm most familiar with the engineering systems, and my wife is most familiar with the electrical system. We can reprogram the replicators and power plants if they ever go down, and we both can think on our paws." Thomas brings Manual into a hug, "we're going to miss you, my friend." Jessica hugs them both. We all have tears in our eyes. "Commodore"? "Again, I accept your help in this endeavor, welcome aboard." They all turn and file onto the ship. One of the females hangs back to talk to Thomas.
"We know what you're going to say, Thomas, but we are taking a calculated risk. We want to understand this thing you call love. Is it a physical, spiritual, or chemical reaction? We just want to know. We hope to get together with some of the males on this ship." "You do know that female bodies go through a monthly cycle"? "Yes, we know, but we have taken steps to avoid any problems arising from unions. This is not the first time we have been in human female bodies." With that, she turns and boards the ship as well.
The ramp closes as we leave the hanger. We get to command in time to see the X-32 leave the hanger. Nine Menushion ships form a circle in space. Suddenly a wormhole appears in the middle of them. The X-32 slow moves towards the circle of ships. As it gets close, it elongates and then vanishes into the wormhole. The Menushion ships all appear to slide into the hole as well. The wormhole blinks out of existence as the last Menushion ship disappears into the wormhole. There is a release of breath as everyone sighs. The mood in the control room lightens as the Menushions are finally gone.